Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs SUSE Linux Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Aug 7, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Red Hat Enterprise Linux (R...
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
1st
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
271
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
SUSE Linux Enterprise
Ranking in Operating Systems (OS) for Business
6th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
32
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2025, in the Operating Systems (OS) for Business category, the mindshare of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is 10.2%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of SUSE Linux Enterprise is 7.3%, down from 9.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Operating Systems (OS) for Business
 

Featured Reviews

Bruce Lundberg - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable patch management, high uptime, and incredible knowledge base
In terms of security, it does a lot of things that most people still turn off. SELinux is turned on by default. They have pretty good firewall rules in their defaults. The audit rules always take tweaking, but, overall, it comes out of the box not too bad. I used to write scripts to harden them from there. There are multiple ways to provision and patch. You have everything from local repositories to doing it by hand. Their knowledge base is incredible. There is so much information out there. It has never taken me longer than 30 minutes to find an answer to anything, even very tough ones. One company I worked for was a security company, and we did a lot of patching on everything. It was designed around security and email hosting, and uptime was pretty much whatever we wanted it to be. I have had a couple of times when the uptime was bad, but it was caused by a third-party solution. In fact, the Norton antivirus was definitely the worst. Red Hat had nothing to do with it.
Dominique Locksley - PeerSpot reviewer
Has good kernel modules and upgrades
I like how the tool handles kernel modules and upgrades - we rarely have issues after upgrades, unlike with other Linux distributions like Oracle Linux or Ubuntu. The kernel module management is excellent. Changes made in one version typically work the same in other versions too, which isn't always the case with other distributions. There's also lots of information and community support available if you run into any problems, both on the official website and in forums and user groups. I know many people who use it specifically, so it's easy to get independent support if needed. I've been working with the tool for a long time, since 2003, before they became SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's always been one of the most admin-friendly Linux versions.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The main reasons for using Red Hat Enterprise Linux are security, reliability, and efficiency. The system is very reliable, and it is more efficient than others."
"It's more stable than the other operating systems."
"Red Hat Insights provides good visibility and proactive management of our environment."
"The most valuable aspects of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are its flexibility and security."
"The security features are better than many other solutions offer."
"The containerized platform will help us use ROSA."
"It's a very stable and secure platform with support options."
"The high availability capability and the support functions we get from Red Hat Enterprise Linux are among the most valuable features."
"The technical support services are good."
"The stability of the solution is good. We have not had any issue with performance."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the installation part...We don't face any issues related to the operating system or application."
"SUSE Linux's most valuable feature is the documentation - there is a lot of documentation about how to create custom servers."
"SUSE Linux Enterprise is stable."
"It is very easy to maintain, migrate and upgrade."
"I like how the tool handles kernel modules and upgrades - we rarely have issues after upgrades, unlike with other Linux distributions like Oracle Linux or Ubuntu. The kernel module management is excellent. Changes made in one version typically work the same in other versions too, which isn't always the case with other distributions. There's also lots of information and community support available if you run into any problems, both on the official website and in forums and user groups. I know many people who use it specifically, so it's easy to get independent support if needed. I've been working with the tool for a long time, since 2003, before they became SUSE Linux Enterprise. It's always been one of the most admin-friendly Linux versions."
"The most important feature is the automatic kernel lifecycle subscription, which is critical for us because the server cannot go down once we start offering any services on the cluster."
 

Cons

"A feature that I would like to see in the image builder is the ability to open the image in live mode and access a command line interface."
"It could be simplified. I'd like to see them introduce PDFs or documents to better explain technicalities to new users."
"I am not happy with the tool's support. It is difficult to find knowledgeable people. It's hard to troubleshoot."
"The solution should provide better documentation."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux should enhance its support for commonly used application servers such as JBoss, Tomcat, and Apache."
"Considering an area where the solution lacks, I think we can look into a lot more automation and integrations with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and other products."
"Deploying clusters on Red Hat, as well as on Oracle Linux, is a bit involving. I'd like them to simplify the setup or at least give meaningful log files to be able to see what's happening at the cluster level."
"I would like Insight to include some features from OpenSCAP, which they offer for compliance services. I played with it a little bit, but haven't gotten the updated setup to get that. It creates excellent documentation."
"In the next release it would be nice to see more integration and better automation of processses."
"Compared with the competition, of late actually, the solution has increased its pricing tremendously."
"They should probably just make clustering a bit simpler and also provide more descriptive log files for cluster services."
"Red Hat has more packages that are available than SUSE does. I'd love to see more projects based on SUSE."
"The only stability issues that I can recall encountering with SUSE would be with KDE. However, that is limited to just the desktop environment as I have not had stability issues with ​most server functions."
"If you want to do something simple like changing an IP number, you have to be quite aware of all the configuration files where you will change that."
"I have not been overly impressed with their technical support."
"I don't like the frequency of updates, especially if they're only from the vendor."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I have limited information regarding Red Hat Enterprise Linux pricing and licensing, but our managers appear satisfied."
"The solution is moving away from its open source roots and licensing is a little bit of an issue."
"The cost has been pretty stable over the years for what you get."
"One Red Hat license costs USD 131, which I find reasonable."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux can be expensive, but its cost is not a deterrent for many organizations willing to invest in its stability, security, and support ecosystem."
"Red Hat Enterprise Linux has a yearly subscription cost for the licensing that includes maintenance and support."
"With Red Hat Enterprise Linux, you need to pay a massive upfront licensing fee in order to get support."
"If you don't buy the Red Hat subscription, you don't get technical support, and you don't have all the updates. To have everything working like a charm, the cost that you pay for it is worth it. In Bolivia, we don't have the best internet connection. Therefore, we have a local service with all the packages, repositories, etc. We manage them locally, and because we have a subscription, we can update them. So, we have local repositories with all the packages and other things to make it easy for us to update all the servers. Without the Red Hat subscription, we cannot update anything."
"I have to pay for a license in order to get support."
"When we first implemented this product, we had licenses for support."
"There is a free tier and a paid support tier. If you do not need support, then the solution is free to use. If you need support then there is an option for that as well."
"The platform is affordable."
"The product's licensing options align well with the evolving landscape of Linux variants."
"I would advise others to download the free or strictly open source versions, then test them in their environment before committing to a purchase. This will allow for testing suitability for applications that they want to run."
"There is no license for this solution, there is only a subscription of support available."
"SUSE Linux Enterprise is reasonably priced compared to other operating systems. I find it's a much better option for us than Oracle, for example, because of the pricing structure. The pricing is easier to explain to clients and makes it easier to get clients' commitment. The licensing is also simpler to manage and keep track of. Their responsiveness is great - they give feedback very quickly when we ask questions about licensing or other aspects. This helps ensure we're always at the gold standard regarding licensing and everything related to SUSE Linux Enterprise."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Operating Systems (OS) for Business solutions are best for your needs.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Comparison Review

it_user281973 - PeerSpot reviewer
Aug 24, 2017
It's improved our company's system environments that run Oracle databases.
Red Hat is mission critical to our environment Red Hat has improved the mission critical environments running Oracle databases, while CentOS has improved our web environment and MySQL. Oracle and SAP Environment and all HPC environments. 10 years No issues Very stable i don´t find any problem…
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Government
9%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Government
9%
Financial Services Firm
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

Which would you choose - RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) or CentOS?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is fantastic. It is an inexpensive solution that has excellent security, performance, and stability, and also lots of features. I specifically like that the solution has fe...
What do you like most about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
It is open source. We can customize it as per our requirements.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)?
Red Hat Enterprise Linux is more expensive compared to other operating systems. The license for cloud deployments is more affordable than the on-premises version.
What do you like most about SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The initial setup is simple and takes five minutes for deployment and if you have automation in place, it will take four minutes.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for SUSE Linux Enterprise?
I used the open-source version, so there were no setup costs.
What needs improvement with SUSE Linux Enterprise?
The software management side was a bit difficult, especially compared to Ubuntu. The software manager was different, making it challenging to install certain applications. Additionally, I encounter...
 

Also Known As

Red Hat Enterprise Linux, RHEL
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Travel Channel, Mohawk Industries, Hilti, Molecular Health, Exolgan, Hotelplan Group, Emory University, BlueCross BlueShield of North Carolina, HCA Healthcare, Paychex, UPS, Intermountain Healthcare, Brinker International, TransUnion, Union Bank, CA Technologies
Air India, Akademicki Szpital Kliniczny (ASK), Allone, Altran, Apollo, ARCHIVA, Asia Innovatory Management School, ATLAS ELEKTRONIK GmbH, AutoData Norge AS, Baldor Electric, Business Connexion, CASIO, Ciclum Farma, Delta Lloyd, Edumate , HPE,  SAP SE,  Lenovo, BMW, T-Systems, UCX, Turners & Growers, Shenzhen Development Bank, Bosch Group, JK Tyres & Industries, IOCL, European Space Agency, Daimler AG, China Minsheng Banking Corp, Café Coffee Day, Unisys,  Petrochina Company Ltd, Fitch Ratings, ABeam Consulting Co Ltd, Tyro Payments, Rackspace, Pacific Textiles, ...
Find out what your peers are saying about Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) vs. SUSE Linux Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: February 2025.
842,296 professionals have used our research since 2012.